Once a Mermaid
by jeanne.summers
Summary: Because people deserve a second chance and they aren't always who we think they are but rather who circumstances force them to be. CURRENTLY DISCONTINUED SORRY
1. Forgiveness

Yeah I hated Charlotte too, but I'm a sucker for second chances.

* * *

Once A Mermaid:

Forgiveness

"Charlotte?" the red haired ex-mermaid whirled around at the sound of her name. Cleo stood there, Rikki and Emma a few steps behind her. Cleo was fiddling with a small box.

"Cleo?" Charlotte shifted her weight from foot to foot, waiting for one of the girls to speak.

"We came to see you off, and well, about what happened we haven't really talked about-"

"I'm sorry," Charlotte's word stopped Cleo mid sentence. "Look, I understand that you three did the right thing, I got a bit crazy with the-"

"A bit? Try a lot." Rikki's quip stung Charlotte who shut her eyes, took a steadying breath, opened her eyes and continued.

"Alright, a got a lot crazy. I'm sorry about that and I'm sorry for trying to steal Lewis, I just… I don't know, I wanted what you had and I wanted to be loved by a great guy and I wanted to be special." Charlotte's breath was becoming ragged as emotion gripped her throat.

"Charlotte," Cleo stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the distressed teen. "It's okay, we forgive you, what you did was wrong, but maybe you're not really a bad person." Charlotte returned the hug and she closed her eyes again as the other two girls joined the hug.

"We've been thinking over the past few days," Emma spoke quietly in Charlotte's ear. "Maybe we didn't try as hard as we should have, maybe it was just bad timing."

"Yeah," Rikki added," Maybe you just weren't ready for your powers." Charlotte chuckled, ironically feeling accepted by the group for the first time.

"It's okay; I get it, three powers three mermaids. I've been thinking a lot lately too and I realise that you three didn't get your powers by accident, I think destiny put you three in the moon pool that night. You guys deserved your powers because you were given them, I took mine." The four girls loosened their grip on one another, Cleo smiled at Charlotte.

"Maybe, but for a little while you were one of us," Cleo put the small box she'd been holding in Charlotte's hand. "Maybe when you get back we can start over, the right way this time." Charlotte stared at the box in confusion.

"Well?" Rikki poked Charlotte in the shoulder.

"Aren't you going to open it?" Emma asked. Carefully Charlotte open the box, her breath caught in her throat when she saw the contents.

"My own locket?" Charlotte looked at Cleo who nodded. Charlotte ran her finger over the purple jewel set at the top of the locket. Carefully she turned the locket over and felt the crescent moon etched in the back. A quiet 'thank you' slipped from her lips as she let Cleo put it in place.

"We asked Max to make it for you." Emma explained.

"Once a mermaid always a mermaid." Rikki added with a small laugh. The four teens shared another hug which was interrupted when Charlotte's flight was called over the P.A.

"I'll see you three in a month." A few requests for postcards later Charlotte was boarding the plane for the Gulf.

The mermaid trio watched as their former foe and sister left.

"So we've forgiven her," Rikki said, "I wonder when she'll forgive herself."

"When she'd ready," Emma responded. Cleo said nothing, a sense of peace and joy settling over her, she had been hurt the most by Charlotte's rampage but on some level, she understood her and she was glad that the damage that they had done to each other was finally beginning to heal, after all, everyone deserved a second chance and forgiveness was the first step.

* * *

This is NOT a one shot, you don't like it? DEAL WITH IT by not reading. doesn't bother me either way.


	2. Rehabilitation

Okay so after this chapter things are going to get a little controversial, translation Charlotte hating fans are going to really hate me... but a lot of people hate me so I've already gotten over it. This is a Charlotte centred fic, just so you all know.

* * *

Once a Mermaid:

Rehabilitation

Since loosing her powers Charlotte had been doing some serious thinking. When she'd first found out about her grandmother's past Charlotte had wanted the powers to understand her grandmother better, to be closer to the woman that had passed away some time ago.

Once she'd gotten the powers Charlotte hadn't even noticed her reasoning becoming more and more illogical, hadn't realised that she had been ignoring caution. The jealousy that she'd felt had only been a minor envy; she didn't know when it had taken over.

When the trio had taken her powers she'd been furious, she'd gone home and slept and when she'd woken the past month came back to her in full colour high definition. It was like a brutal slap in the face.

She had stayed in bed that day, mulling it over, that night when she took a bath and her legs stayed legs and no tail appeared she cried, she cried for an hour maybe more. Regret flooded through her. She didn't want to believe that she was such a monster, she knew she had never been so horrid before but she also knew that the faults had been there for a long time, being a mermaid had magnified them until she was a power mad zealot. She had let her faults control her and she had lost the best thing to ever happen to her.

It wasn't being a mermaid, although that rated a very close second. The best thing that had ever happened to her was being part of the girls' 'club,' she had felt so great to be part of that, part of something more than herself and she had thrown it away for a reason she couldn't comprehend.

By the end of the first week her mother had noticed the break in Charlotte's facade and had talked to her teachers at school. They had all decided that Charlotte could take some time off as long as she kept up with her school work. Charlotte's mother got the work for the next month and a half and called her sister who lived on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Charlotte was genuinely pleased to have a month with her aunt to get her life back together. A day after receiving the news she ran into Cleo, it was just the two of them and the situation was awkward; it was the first time since the battle that any of the girls had seen Charlotte and neither girl knew what to say. Finally Charlotte blurted out her plans.

"I'm leaving at the end of the week, just for a month but… I didn't mean to do what I did; I can't explain why I did all that because I really don't know. I'm going to try and get my life back on track, whatever that means. Don't worry about your secret, I won't tell anyone."

"Okay," Cleo nodded, "Good luck with that." She tried to be sarcastic but Charlotte's sincerity was making it impossible. So after two weeks of heavy thinking from all four girls involved they had met at the airport and Charlotte, who was trying to heal, was accepted fully by the trio of mermaids.

Now on a beach far to the north Charlotte sat and watched the waves crashed against the shore. She was still getting used to not having to worry about getting wet. Her aunt was a marine botanist and she had taken Charlotte out snorkelling, the first few time Charlotte had forgotten that she needed to come up for air more often then when she was a mermaid. The result was a very light headed teenager and a very concerned aunt.

Most days Charlotte studied on the beach, some days she would just sit and stare at the ocean, on her good days she would unpack her art supplies and paint. She'd been there for a week when she'd met Becky and Mindy. Mindy was a brightly coloured Gymnast with bubblegum pink hair and a love for flinging herself into the air. Becky was a martial artist and Mindy's opposite, the quieter of the two Becky wore muted colours and her black hair was cropped short.

The odd duo had quickly adopted Charlotte and were often toting her around, Charlotte soon found herself playing mediator for the strange pair. They had admitted to her that they didn't know how they'd stayed friends with out her. Hanging out with the girls Charlotte thought less and less about being a mermaid. She thought she wouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing; she wasn't even concerned about the fast approaching full moon. The last one had taken away her powers forever; Charlotte could never get those powers back, so she hadn't blinked when Mindy had suggested a full moon sleep over in a secret cave on an island out in the waters of the Gulf.

* * *

See, See! This is why its important to get enough sleep, sleep deprived minds come upwith this sort of ... what ever the hell this is.

Read, review, or don't either way I've already prepared for an onslaught of Charlotte-hate-mail-flame-thingies so there.


	3. Relapse

Okay, here we go, let the fruit throwing begin. or you could just stare in awe at the fact that something like this could be written, enjoy the blasphemy.

* * *

Once a Mermaid:

Relapse

The water in the cave lapped gently against the stones separating the ocean and the hidden beach. Charlotte was struck with a mild sense of déjà vu, a hole in the roof of the cave let light in directly above the shallows of the inlet, a large hole in the wall led off some where deeper in the cave and the sand formed a sort of crescent around the water, saved from further erosion by a lining of large, smooth rocks.

There were differences of course, this cave was a cave, not the hollowed out form of a dead volcano, the opening to the ocean was much larger then the Mako island moon pool, you could quite comfortably fit a boat full of four and their over night gear through the tunnelling entrance, in fact they had.

Mindy had convinced her twin brother Chris, who looked nothing like her, to lend them his small boat for the night. Of course her brother had a condition: he either stayed with them, and his boat, or he dropped them off and came back for them the following morning. The girls had opted for the second option.

Once Chris had left, after cautioning his 'little' sister and her friends, the trio of girls had stripped down to their bikini's and jumped into the water. The splash fight had the water over the rocks and dampening the sand. Luckily the food and drinks were untouched. At one point Mindy had jumped out of the water to grab a portable C.D. player. Soon the girls were listening to music and eating timtams as they lazed in the shallowest waters of the cave.

Charlotte hummed in pleasure, letting her head rest on the rock behind her.

"You sound happy," Mindy reached over and poked her gently in the side. Charlotte swatted at her hand half-heartedly.

"I am happy, for the first time in a long time." Charlotte lifted a leg out of the water and wriggled her toes. "I can live with legs." Charlotte let her leg drop and the resulting splash stared another water fight which stopped Becky from asking about Charlotte's odd leg comment.

* * *

The girls lay on their sleeping bags talking quietly. The sound of the waves was soothing and the three were drowsy. They had changed out of their bikinis earlier and now Charlotte and Becky were in their night gowns while Mindy wore only her panties and a t-shirt. According to Becky, Mindy had stared to wear the attire to bed three years ago, since then she hadn't once had to worry about her brother coming into her room to wake her up early.

The three girls lay in a circle around a campfire that warmed them and dried their swim wear.

"Moon should be up soon," Becky suddenly mentioned. Mindy sat up with a jolt clapping her hands together loudly.

"Hey I know what we should do!" Charlotte and Becky shared a very worried look. "Moonlight skinny dipping! Come on it'll be fun." Before the other two could protest Mindy was already topless and half way to the water. Becky and Charlotte shared another look, they were alone, it wasn't like any one else would know. Throwing caution and embarrassment to the wind they stripped off and joined Mindy in the water. Their giggles echoed through the cave as the moon moved closer to the opening in the ceiling. The girls swum around a bit before congregating in the water below the hole.

In days to come Charlotte would tell herself she should have known better, she would tell herself that she should have known this would happen when in truth she couldn't have known.

Moonlight spilled through the hole and lit the water around them, slowly at first bubbles began to rise. Shock was plastered all across Charlotte's face as the bubbles sped up and glimmers began to rise. In the back of her head she noticed the difference in colour, in The Mako island moon pool the glimmering lights were golden; in this moon pool the lights were a purple-copper colour.

The other two girls looked around in awe as a tear slipped down Charlotte's cheek. Mindy and Becky were going to gain what she had lost, but Charlotte some how wasn't jealous. Soon the bubbling died down and the girls got out of the water. With a sigh Charlotte spoke as they dried themselves off.

"They're something you two should be aware of. In a little while," Charlotte took another breath to steady herself. "What just happened has changed something, changed you both, you will never be the same again. The only way to reverse what just happened won't occur for another fifty years." While she spoke Charlotte didn't look at the others. Carefully she got dressed again and began to towel her hair dry.

"Charlotte?" Charlotte looked up, both Mindy and Becky we dressed again and were also towelling their hair. Charlotte sat and the others followed her lead. Mindy produced another bag of chocolate and Charlotte related to them her story, with some editing to leave out the trio from the gold coast.

* * *

"Wow, you were a psycho-super-mermaid… You're all better now right?" Mindy was leaning in close to Charlotte, disbelief in her eyes.

"Yeah, I got pretty crazy, but I am not crazy anymore and I'm working on my faults. I don't think it was meant to be, I mean what kind of mermaid is scared of dolphins?" Charlotte blushed as she revealed her fear to the girls, it still embarrassed her. Becky hugged Charlotte around the shoulders.

"It's okay, your Dolphin-phobia is just a fault that needs work, and we'll help; It might not even be as bad as you think, you did say you were already coming of the rails when your confrontation with the dolphin happened." Mindy nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, we'll help, it's just a pity you're not a mermaid again; it would make meetings with dolphins easier. Are you sure there's no way to get your old powers back?" This time it was Charlotte who was nodding.

"Positive, those powers are gone for good, which is probably a good thing since I used them for evil." Mindy put her arm around Charlotte as well turning the hug into a group affair. "Well mermaid or not I'd still be happy to help you two figure out your powers, and we'll need to come up with a contingency plan for the night of the full moon."

"What for, what's wrong with full moons?" Becky asked.

"Well, now that you're mermaids you can't look at the full moon or it will send you a little, well what it sends you depends on the alignment of planets, the affects of the full moon only lasts from the time you see it til the time it sets. The moon can make you turn into a siren for the night, or it could make you totally carefree, like flash your tail to everyone carefree, or it could send you into a really deep depression and make your powers go haywire and nearly kill anyone who gets close to you." Mindy and Becky gaped at Charlotte, they were still trying to process all the things she'd already told them now this…

"This is too much; I mean just too much, there's no way…" Becky stood up and began to pace. She rubbed her hands over her face as she walked back and forth. "Okay so, hypothetically the reaction in the water turned us into mermaids with special powers, but at the moment, past experience excluded, it's just a theory, that means-"

"We have to test it!" Mindy cut Becky off mid sentence, her enthusiasm bubbling over. The two girls grabbed Charlotte and hauled her to her feet pulling her towards the water. "You're coming in too, you've been through this and we need your support in this matter." Neither of them payed any attention to Charlotte's meek protests finally all three of them were in the water.

"So," Becky began, "Ten seconds." Charlotte nodded and a moment later she felt a familiar tingle as the three of them turned first to water then into mermaids. With a flop the fell backwards and landed in the shallows with a splash. All three gaped at the tails were their legs had been.

"Cute top," Mindy's comment broke the stunned silence and the trio began to babble at the same time. After a few minutes they calmed down.

"I thought you said you couldn't become a mermaid again." Becky peered curiously at Charlotte.

"I can't, I mean I couldn't, I shouldn't… I don't understand." Charlotte took a deep calming breath. "There are some differences, I guess, the style of the tail and the top are the same, but the colour is different, my old tail was gold, not this coppery purple colour. The sparkles!" in the back of her mind something seemed to snap into place, the glimmering lights that had floated into the sky. "they were a different colour, and this is a different moon pool, we didn't know there was another neither did my grandmother and her friends, maybe the alignment only take away the powers you have, I mean it's possible that I can never become a gold tailed mermaid again but this is… I mean, maybe you can't re-have powers but you can get different ones from another moon pool."

Mindy poked Charlotte in the side. "So it's like driving a car, they took away your old car and you can never drive that one again but you can get a new car?" Charlotte shrugged.

"I have a new, different tail so yeah I guess so; I think that's what I was trying to say. I wonder if this means different powers as well. I think I'm going to faint or something."

"Then I suggest breathing," Becky said, "And we really need to get our legs back before Chris the evil twin returns." The three mermaids dragged themselves from the water and over to the fire.

"Hey, if the powers from this moon pool are different from the other moon pool what do you think they'll be?" Mindy asked as she opened yet another bag of food. Charlotte shook her head.

"I have no idea, but I think that what ever they are we'll have to be careful." Charlotte looked from Mindy to Becky. Becky nodded in agreement.

"Have to be careful about what we eat too, Mindy you eat any more and you'll be a whale sized mermaid." Mindy and Charlotte gapped at Becky who stuck her tongue out. "Seriously you shouldn't eat so much, as your best friend it's my duty to stop you from stuffing your face til your sick."

"You want my snacks." Mindy glared at Becky.

"Heck yes, now give." The three girls burst into laughter and the snacks were shared around.

* * *

well that was... chapter three

feel free to reveiw and tell me what you think of this evil work of blasphemy and mermaids...

oh come on some one had to do it eventually.


	4. Regret

And ta-da the fourth chapter in this whackfest of strange plot ideas and random au-ishness enjoy.

* * *

Once a mermaid:

Regret

The ride back to the mainland had been quiet. Chris had expected the girls to be tired but this was a sombre affair filled with something secret. He tried to start up a conversation or three but they all fell flat.

Even his twin sister who was the very meaning of the words irrepressible and erratic sat still and silent. Had he not known her as well as he did he might have missed the scheming look hidden amongst the seriousness that covered her face.

Becky seemed to have a meditative quality to her silence, just what he would expect. And Charlotte, well Chris didn't know Charlotte very well, in fact he barely knew her at all but it seemed to him that she was disturbed on a deeper more personal level by whatever it was that had brought this gloomy atmosphere down on the girls.

* * *

The mystery of the girls' gloominess bugged Chris, he asked Mindy about it but she just locked herself in her room and refused to speak to him, he knew Becky would be sleeping and he had no idea where Charlotte lived. So Chris did what he always did when something bugged him, he grabbed his digital camera and went for a walk.

Chris walked along the beach, after a while he spotted Charlotte, she was up on the sand dunes, as far from the water as she could get without leaving the beach itself, in front of her sat an art easel. Her hair hung loose about her head and she looked up, out to sea, just as an ocean breeze rolled off the water and onto the land.

The sea breeze caught her hair and tossed it about. With the sun beating down it looked to Chris like a halo of dark fire, quickly he brought his camera up and snapped a few shots before the breeze died down. He checked the photos on the display screen and smiled, Charlotte photographed really well.

"Hey," Chris called out to her as he made his way closer, her head turned towards him but he noticed her eyes linger on the ocean for a moment more before they too turned to him.

"Chris hey," Charlotte gave him a slight smile.

"Hey, thought you'd be napping, Mindy is." Charlotte shrugged in reply.

"Couldn't, too much to think about." With a sigh she turned back to her painting. Chris glanced at it then did a double take. It was a half finished ink painting; he stood and watched as Charlotte painted.

"So you're a photographer?" Charlotte's voice startled Chris slightly, he'd spaced out slightly as he watched the painting take shape.

"Not really, I'm actually a comic book artist; I take photos of things that inspire me so whenever I forget the inspiration I can look at the photos and remember. You're a good painter." Charlotte glanced at him and blushed, he though he heard her mumble a 'thanks' but he wasn't sure.

"What happened last night?" Chris watched as Charlotte tensed; stoping in place with her brush half way to the canvas.

"What do you mean, Mindy, Becky and I stayed over night in a cave."

"What happened?" Chris asked again stepping closer to the red haired painter. He hadn't known her long but her reaction confirmed his theory, something that happened last night had shaken the girls, something that Charlotte may have dealt with before.

"We ate, listened to music, swam, ate some more, talked, played cards and swam again." He could hear a slight panic in her voice. He stood right beside her now, he could feel the heat radiate from her body just as she could feel his body heat. Gently he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"What happened last night that had you three so out of it this morning, and what happened to you before you came here?" Charlotte turned her head, and looked Chris in the eye before turning back to her painting. She hoped he would leave, or at least stop asking her questions, but it was too late. Chris had seen the emotions in Charlotte's eyes: fear and regret.

"Charlotte…"

"I did some bad things, people I cared about got hurt; it was out of my control, _I _was out of control. They forgave me, but it will be a long time before they trust me." Chris let his hand slip from her shoulder, looking back to the painting he wondered at it, trying to figure out why she had painted it.

Etched by the delicate brush strokes a golden tailed mermaid with deep red hair sat on a rock surrounded by water, there was something maniacal about the mermaid, but the mermaid reflected in the water, the same deep red hair, but the tail was a coppery- purple and she looked scared and trapped, was that how Charlotte felt? Trapped by a darker side of her personality.

* * *

And yet more cruddyness for you to read huzzah... reveiw or don't, your choice


	5. Reveal

And I'm back, yay(!) I'm sure not one of you missed me but ah well what can you do?

btb. the boat in this chapter is... think Denman's boat from season 1 and Naomi (Charlotte's aunt) livein ahouse right on the water's edge, she has her own private dock.

and for the record Sashimi is fish that is so thinly sliced it's nearly transparent.

Once a Mermaid:

Reveal

Charlotte stretched her arms above her head as she ambled down the hallway; a yawn worked its way from her and she dropped her arms, her sleep had been disturbed by dreams; dreams of Chris, of Cleo and her dark side.

Stepping into the kitchen Charlotte stopped; there at the kitchen bench, talking quietly with her Aunt Naomi, was Becky. Charlotte blinked a few times and looked over to the fridge, the door was open and Mindy was rummaging through the contents.

"Morning," Charlotte's greeting startled the three women who turned to look at her so fast she thought they'd get whiplash.

"Hey Charlotte! Oh found the cheese!" Mindy, in her usual hyperactive state, began running around the kitchen apparently making breakfast. Becky shook her had at her friend's antics and motioned for Charlotte to come sit by her.

"Morning," Naomi said, "Sleep well?"

"Weird dreams," Charlotte replied as she sat.

"Naomi's been telling us about dolphin sightings up the coast." Becky had caught onto Charlotte's mood and promptly changed the subject.

"It's not the far," Naomi added, "We could take my research boat, have a girls day." Naomi wanted to spend the day alone with her niece but she knew Charlotte would want to spend the day with her friends so she was happy to compromise.

Charlotte felt uncertain, she wasn't sure if going to see dolphins was such a good idea considering her track record with them and the girls' current condition. She was about to refuse when Mindy set breakfast down on the bench and answered for the trio.

"Sounds awesome I'll chuck together some food for the trip and we can leave when Charlotte's dressed."

* * *

The teenage trio sat in the back of the boat while the older marine botanist drove. The mermaids spoke quietly, Mindy randomly adding things to her 'reasons why the research boat is more of a yacht then a boat' list.

Mindy's list annoyed Becky until she'd finally had enough, Becky reached over Charlotte and grabbed a lock of Mindy's pink hair, yanking it lightly Becky told her friend to 'stop with the list or become sashimi;' the ride after that was filled with a companionable silence, until Mindy went to chat with Naomi.

Becky ignored her bubbly friend and watched the ocean; it looked the same as always and yet it seemed, deeper, somehow, more, like it was, changed, different from before. Charlotte soaked up the sun as her mind wandered back to the dream.

* * *

_She floated somewhere dark, her skin could feel only cold and though she floated she was not in water. There was no air but she didn't need to breathe, she was afraid but she wasn't going to scream she couldn't bring herself to break the envelope of silence surrounding her. _

_Above her, at least she was very sure it was above, there was a light. The light drew closer and closer, it seemed to be the end of a tunnel, so perhaps the light hadn't move but rather she had floated upwards towards the light._

_The light was circular and it seemed to be pouring into the dark space from somewhere else, perhaps she was indeed in a tunnel or a hole of some sort. At the rim where the dark met the light a body appeared, a person, at first she couldn't see the person's face, the light behind was to bright but then her eyes adjusted and she could make out their identity: it was Chris._

_His mouth was moving as if he was speaking but no sound was coming out. She strained her eyes trying to see him better trying to work out what he was saying but it was no use. She waited to get closer to him but she didn't, she was no longer moving, she floated, suspended meters from him._

_Behind him another figure formed, this one dressed in the golden light; long, dark, auburn hair drifted abut the figure's head. The light shifted and the world tilted and Charlotte could see the figure's face, it was her, she was the figure behind Chris, but the her behind Chris, the one dressed in gold, had black eyes._

'_It will end on the dark night when the moon is blind.' Her own voice echoed though the silence as the golden robed her spoke. The gold dressed her wrapped her arms around Chris, a dark smirk plastered across her face._

_The world shuddered and shifted again, Charlotte was above now, the airless space was water, the light went dark and below her, still holding Chris, her dark counter part was laughing silently as she dragged him down into the cold void. _

_The real Charlotte struggled trying to swim down to him, to _her_, but something held her trapped, suspended in place. She tried to scream but only bubbles of air came out. She saw movement to her right, her head whipped around her vision temporarily obscured by her hair then it cleared and she wished it hadn't._

_Floating in the water in human form was Cleo, her eyes were shut and she wasn't moving and Charlotte knew, beyond reason beyond doubt, she had done had done this._

* * *

Naomi cut the boat's motor and let it drift for a bit before hauling the anchor over board. Mindy scurried back onto the main deck and leaned over the rail, Becky nudged Charlotte and motioned to the pink haired teen about to fall overboard. With a snicker the duo went stop her from taking a swim.

Naomi checked her sonar for signs of the Dolphins; she spotted them underneath the boat. Just as Naomi turned to warn the trio one of the dolphins leapt into the air to do an intricate twist right beside the boat near the girls, showering the teenage trio with seawater.

The three girls hurried below deck in order to find towels they made it to the bottom of the stairs before their ten seconds ran out. They fell in a pile with a rather loud thump, Naomi descended a second later only to trip over one of the tails.

The four young women lay there for a few minutes in shock before Naomi finally found her voice. "Did I just trip over what I think I just tripped over?"

"I told you dolphins are evil"

* * *

Dun-dun-duuuun.

and thus the new mer-trio run into their first problem.


	6. Re: reveal: reaction

And now for something completely different:

Thanks for the reviews I'm sorry I couldn't answer each one personally/individually but I've been super busy lately and I'm probably going to be uber-busy again in a bit, I'm helping some one move house so…any way:

**MewNacho**: this is what's going to happen with Naomi, hope you like.

**bloodfan 101**: thank you and TADA- an update.

**D.J. Scales**: the suspense is half the fun. Enjoy, and there might not be an exact Lewis parallel.

**Katheren Black**: thank you very much.

**cfxcin02**: thank you for giving my story another shot, glad you don't mind it after all.

**.light**: thanks, glad you like it. There will be more of the moon pool later in the story, more description and more to explore.

**Mermaid****Raven**: thank you very much and wait no more for here is the new chapter.

**Sokai**: You'll just have to wait and see, thanks, glad to be back.

And on with the actual story you lot are here to read.

3 u all. (It looks more like a double scoop ice-cream then a heart doesn't it…. Mmm, ice- cream.)

* * *

"Did I just trip over what I think I just tripped over?"

"I told you dolphins are evil."

Once a Mermaid

Re: Reveal: Reaction

"So…" Naomi said slowly.

"We're mermaids." Charlotte replied carefully watching her aunt for a reaction. Naomi took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she got up and moved further into the cabin.

"You three aren't going to suffocate or anything like that above water are you?" Naomi wrung her hands, warily eyeing the trio. The girls shook the heads in reply.

"Aunt Naomi?" Charlotte began, "do you have any towels or anything that could dry us off?" Naomi nodded and opened one of the cupboards removing large fluffy towels.

Naomi placed the towels down on a bench near the girls then leaned down, grabbed Mindy carefully and dragged her away from the other two. She repeated the process with Becky and with Charlotte giving them all a little bit more space to move and dry off in, before handing out the towels and, taking a spare towel for herself she began to dry the wet floor at the base of the stairs where the trio had collapsed.

"So you get wet and you grow tails?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Ten seconds after," Mindy confirmed "we dry off we get our legs back."

"Naomi," Becky spoke up, "you aren't going to turn us into the government or anything are you?"

"No," came the immediate reply, "I specialise in oceanic _flora_, the _fauna_ makes no never mind to me, not my area to report on… plus I like you three, one of you even happens to be my niece so, once I've had a good, extremely alcoholic drink, I'd like to hear all about the sorts of sea plants you've seen."

"Well, we haven't seen that many yet, we only became mermaids on the full moon two nights ago." Charlotte told her, "we haven't had a chance to go swimming properly; we haven't even gotten our powers yet."

"_Powers?_" Naomi turned around to fast the teenage trio thought she'd get whiplash. "Wait, if you haven't gotten them how do you know you get powers." Charlotte shifted uncomfortably before spilling the whole story, the whole edited story anyway, she had promised not to tell the Gold Coast trio's secret and she wouldn't. Not until they knew about the new mermaids…

* * *

"Wow…" Naomi seemed even more shocked now that she knew the 'whole' story. "So that's why you came up here, because you lost you're old powers, only then you got new ones, fate is one sadistic little chit. You know you'll have to move in with me permanently." Charlotte threw Naomi a confused look.

"Well who else are you gonna live with up here, or were you planning on breaking up your… drift- School- shoal- swarm- shiver- _Pod_? What in hell do you call a group of mermaids anyway?"

"A mercy?" Mindy suggested, "Get it Mer-sea."

"Yeah... Ok that'll do, unless you were planning on breaking up your _mercy,_ lets face it you'd be better off together where you can watch each others backs."

"Sticking together is the wisest course of action. And you know, we'd miss you and you'd miss us and even if we are as fast as you say that's still a long way from here to the Gold Coast for visits." Becky added.

"Okay, but we're going to have to make some changes to things, make the house and the maybe even the boat more mermaid friendly." Charlotte looked at Naomi who nodded in agreement. "I either have the coolest aunt in existence, or the strangest."

"Strangest," Naomi confirmed, "I think it might be because mum, your grandmother Gracie, always told me stories about mermaids and the sea, coming from her it was just so believable, I think part of me still believed her stories," the older woman paused to look at the trio, "evidently with good reason. And I would like to get a look at the moon pool; I want to see if this… magic thing has done anything to the surrounding marine life."

* * *

The next few days saw the four women, and a mildly reluctant Chris, supervising, or in Chris's case helping, the contractors begin renovations on the research area of Naomi's house, specifically her 'indoor rock pool.' Chris had asked on the first day why the changes were necessary, Naomi's reply – to make scuba diving easier and more efficient for her– was reasonable enough to curb his curiosity. During the girls' long breaks from supervising for lunch, and 'quick' swims far away from the house and the contractors, Charlotte and Naomi took turns in convincing Charlotte's mother why it would be better if she stayed with Naomi.

It was on the fourth day after the group had begun construction, the day after the contractors had proclaimed it finished and left, that the second part of mermaid-hood began to show; the results were very… different to what any of the girls had expected.

* * *

Drift, school and shoal are all collective nouns for fish.

Swarm is the collective noun for, I think its eels.

Shiver is the alleged collective noun for sharks.

And Pod is for dolphins and some whales.

If any one can correct that go ahead it's appreciated.


	7. Random Gravity

Hey lookit two at once, isn't me talented ma?

….

Maybe I should not drink caffeine with my sugar

….

Or I could go back to my therapist

….

And just for reference the 'slope' that is talked about is… well horizontal surfaces have a tilt of 0 degrees, vertical surfaces are 90 degrees, the cliff is 15meters from average sea level to the top the 'base' is 5 meters wider at the top (Pythagoras mean a^2 + b^2 = c^2 ergo 15^2 + 5^2 = c^2 therefore 225 + 25 = c^2 so c^2 = 250 which mean c = [where's the square root button] the square root of 250 and thus c = 15.81metres) the slope itself is almost 16 metres down and the slope is at a decline of (…) actually I think you get the idea its very, very steep.

OHOHOHOoh! just BTB and FYI talus and scree are types of rock, they're sort of 'dead wood' for rocks, just cast off, natural debris, scree is no larger than a human fist, while talus is a little bigger.

* * *

Once a Mermaid:

Random Gravity

Becky breathed in deeply as she jogged along the ridge of the coastal cliffs, mist still clinging to the long sweeping grass in the fields by the path to her right. The fact that the path was on the very edge of the cliff didn't bother Becky, she was well aware of the drop and the jagged 'slope' that was covered in slate and mist and had no intention of getting too close to it, she jogged in the centre of the path the same as every morning.

What _did_ bother Becky was the mist; the cold ground hugging clouds were filled with water vapour and with her unique condition to consider she had taken up wearing long sleeved pants that matched the long sleeved hoddie she already wore for her ritual morning jog. Still she was troubled that the mist might soak her clothes through to her skin and then… at least the mist was never more then knee high.

Mist muffled footsteps echoed eerily through the morning air shaking Becky from her revere, coming along the path from the other direction was a group of young men Becky didn't recognize; they had an air of arrogance about them as the jogged, taking up the entire path. The group surged to their left, toward the field side of the path forcing Becky to _her_ left, to the edge.

The group spread out again leaving Becky precious little room to move, they forced her closer and closer to the edge, not one of them acknowledged her even as her foot slipped on loose shale as the last jogger passed, not one of them turned back to see her momentum carry her off the cliff and down over the sharp talus and scree below, no of them heard her shriek as she fell, sliding down the barely-there slope like cheese down a grater, the jogging group deafened by their headphones.

* * *

Mindy was enjoying the early morning quiet, the community gym, which had the equipment of a work out centre and a gymnasium, was blissfully silent. She had been the first one in today, she had already completed a quick floor routine and was now messing about on the trampoline, jumping up and smacking into the extremely well padded wall beside the trampoline. Lots of the younger children did it as well jumping up smacking into the squishy mats and bouncing off them back down onto the trampoline, jumping up, smacking the wall, bouncing off, jumping up, smacking the wall…

Mindy blinked, stared at the trampoline for a moment and blinked again. Mindy had jumped, smacked against the wall… and stayed there.

"What… the… _hell_?"

* * *

Naomi and Charlotte were clearing away the last of the mess from the renovations, the things the contractors hadn't cleaned up themselves; Naomi's 'indoor rock pool' now reminded Charlotte strongly of the Mako island moon pool, except the rock pool had a marble ramp, a tiled area with a drain and a low set of shelves full of towels right next to a short table with a heater and hair driers. A tall cabinet on the other side of the room, between the two doors, housed actual scuba gear for Naomi.

A pallet of unused marble sat by the door waiting to be move to the store room, Charlotte moved a trolley next to the stack and knelt next to it, Charlotte had intended to inch it onto the trolley's ground level ledge, instead the force she used to pull up on the stack sent it flying up over her head as she fell backwards when the stack was unexpectedly light. The sound of the marble hitting the far wall resounded around the room and out the door.

Naomi sprinted into the room to find Charlotte lying on the ground gaping across the rock pool at broken marble slabs covered in debris from the wall. A few seconds later the water in the rock pool rippled as Becky broke through the surface pulling herself onto the ramp just as Mindy dashed in, knocking into Naomi, her forward momentum carrying the pair to the ground. The three mermaids looked at each other before speaking at the same time.

"You guys will never believe what just happened to me."

"Why do I keep ending up on the ground as well?"

* * *

The four women sat once more in Naomi's kitchen, this time however Mindy was not rummaging through things, nor were the other three engaged in idle chatter, this time the discussion was a sombre affair.

"Okay, so all three of you had strange – _things_ – happen to you this morning; who wants to go first." Naomi poured four cups of herbal tea as the mermaids looked at each other, silently deciding who would share first. Naomi let the girls work it out while she grabbed straws for them.

"I fell down the cliff this morning." Becky broke the silence, her words, while not rushed, had a quickness to them, betraying her disbelieve over her own experience as she accepted a cup of tea from Naomi.

"Wow, you healed really fast Becky." Mindy said as she looked her friend over for scratches or bruises.

"No," Becky's voice wavered as she answered "I didn't heal, but hey I didn't exactly get hurt either." The other women in the room openly gaped at the martial artist as she tried to hide in her hoodie.

"Wow, that sucks," Mindy's comment earned her a strange look from the others. "I don't mean your being invincible sucks, I mean next to your power mine sucks, you're indestructible I just get stuck to walls… and ceilings." Charlotte tried took a sip of her tea as she attempted not to laugh only to discover it's not that easy to sip tea through a straw when you're trying not to laugh. Mindy glared at the red head.

"Sorry Mindy, it's just," Charlotte had to stop and compose herself, "what exactly… _how_ exactly did you get stuck to a wall… and a ceiling?" Charlotte was not the only one having problems keeping a straight face as Mindy explained how she had gotten stuck to a wall then had gotten the brilliant idea to climb the wall onto the ceiling only to be stuck there for two minutes before her power cut out letting her plummet eight and a half metres onto the trampoline which bounced her off onto the padded floor.

"Wait a minute; if it was an eight and half meter fall shouldn't you have been hurt?" Naomi asked only have Mindy shake her head.

"It was weird, I didn't actually fall that fast, and it was more like a quick-uncontrolled-float-down, plus I've been doing gymnastics for years add that to the few tricks Becky's shown me, I am a master of falling. I could totally out-fall Hollywood stunt people." One more Mindy's words earned her an odd look from the other three women. "What about you Charlotte?"

"I accidentally threw that pallet of spare marble tiles backwards over my head all the way across the room. It was so light, I've had text books that have weighed more." Charlotte shrugged and turned her attention back to her tea for a moment then let out a long sigh. "I don't think I'll _ever _get used to drinking tea through a straw."

"Who's drinking tea through a straw?" The young masculine voice from the door way startled the women, luckily none of them spilt their tea, they had found out at Mindy's expense that tea had the same effects as water, an allergic reaction resulting in an odd scale like rash on their legs.

"Hey Chris, how long have you been there?" Mindy eyed her twin nervously. Her brother shrugged.

"I havealways been here... not really I came just in time to hear Charlotte mention drinking tea through a straw, I stopped by the rock pool first; I saw the mess is everyone okay?" he got quiet affirmatives from the four.

"You've been watching Babylon 5 again haven't you...Hey wait a minute how did you get into the house, the door is the other way." Mindy pointed vaguely in the other direction from Chris at the second doorway that led from the kitchen to the lounge room.

"Mindy, you know how you have to go down the outside stairs to get to the rock pool room?" Mindy nodded her head. "And you know how there's a cabinet and another door right next to the entrance?" Mindy nodded again, "that second door, connects to an underground hallway; _that_ leads to another set of stairs that enters _and_ exits in the room down the hall." Chris gestured back down the hall in the direction he'd just come from.

"You mean the rock pool is connected to the house via an underground hallway?" Chris sighed at his sister's question wondering if she really did have a brain or if the moments of seeming intelligence were a strange yet convincing act.

"Yes Mindy, that's what I mean." He glanced quickly at Charlotte, the red-head once again snickering at her pink haired friend. "Naomi, you want I should clean up the mess in the rock pool room?"

"Yeah, if you could just grab one of the large buckets in the closet next to the house stairs and just put it in that and leave it by the door that would be fantastic." The marine botanist watched as he nodded and left not breaking the quiet that had once more settled over the kitchen until she heard the door to the stair well open and close. "You guys were so close to being busted just then."

* * *

Chris thought over what he'd heard as he cleaned up the mess that _Charlotte_ had allegedly caused. He'd stood in the hallway listening to the girls, he'd been there a lot longer than he'd said; he'd been there long enough to hear Mindy claiming that Becky was indestructible then almost laughed outloud himself at the image of Mindy stuck to a wall.

The idea that Charlotte, the strange, artistic red-head, had thrown this marble across the room by _accident_, when he himself was finding some of the larger pieces to carry some noticable weight, was mind blowing. He wasn't sure if he believed his sister and her friends had suddenly developed superpowers but something had changed the night they stayed at the island, something that she wasn't telling him, he just hoped that she and her friends didn't get hurt.

* * *

Dun-dun-dun… dundah!

I need sleep…

Or more caffeine and sugar.

Read, review, bitch, poke holes in my story, bugger off… what ever makes you feel happy. XI zzzzz XP


End file.
